Hell yeah man! That’s what these threads are for!
Ha, “secrets.” I remember asking Stu, “hey man, I want to start a prep log on T-Nation, but I don’t want to give anything away, do you not want me to post macros or get too specific with our plan?” His response was something along the lines of, “there are no secrets, your plan works for you.” Stu has a wealth of experience from his time as a competitor, coach and judge, and many different “tools in the kit” to whip out as needed.
One of the primary things that makes Stu such an effective coach is that he makes sure he understands each client and adjusts their plan accordingly to their life, habits, and he realizes the importance of this, because people will have the most success with the plan that is most practical for them to execute consistently. A lot of coaches will literally give the same plan out to their clients and say, “do this” without any explanation or in depth thought/analysis. Granted some of these guys are so busy that they probably don’t have time to be more individualized. Stu has mentioned this to me also, that he makes sure he doesn’t take on more clients than will allow him to give each person the time and attention that’s needed to be a great coach. During my prep we texted every day and talked multiple times per week, he always got right back to me. The last 4 weeks we talked every day, I mean every single freaking day, often early in the morning before either of us got to school, while I was doing my cardio and he would talk me off the ledge lol.
Another thing is that the adjustments to nutrition and cardio are very smart, slow and steady, and again really made accordingly to each person. Every decision also was very much team work between the two of us. One example was with incorporating my refeed and raising cals/carbs leading up to my second show, certainly not a typical adjustment. But we spoke at length about what was going on, what was working and what wasn’t, and eventually arrived at the re-feed, and it worked out nicely. Stu realizes that everyone isn’t the same, and what works for one won’t work for another. Sometimes we tried things that we thought would work and didn’t, but eventually we found my formula and I know we’ll hit the ground running next prep.
Additionally, Stu was a fierce competitor! It’s surprising to me the amount of coaches out there that never put themselves through the ringer. Stu went through the gauntlet, killing himself for years to earn those pro cards, and his ability to understand and relate to going through the prep, the stress, the “what if this what if that” that every competitor goes through, I always knew he had my back and truly knew what I was dealing with.
I’ve learned a ton from him, as well as by really reflecting and taking careful data during the prep and after my shows. I recently started coaching a few people as a result of some folks getting in touch with me who have been following along on this thread and on my more recent IG account. One of them is a good friend who used to be very heavy, I think I posted pics of him earlier. He’s now in the best shape of his life, and we’ve just been making slow and steady adjustments over the past year. When he has a change in his schedule, work or otherwise, we adjust accordingly so he can keep progressing. Another guy is getting ready to compete soon but doesn’t have a date in mind, right now we’re trying to gain some mass and get him used to consistent training and nutrition before starting a prep. Both are having great success so far, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have met Stu on here, becoming my coach and good friend, and I’ve been able to learn from him and apply those techniques, as well as my own, to my own clients.
This next one is pretty exciting, my wife caught the bug and we are starting her first prep at the end of this month! Even better and badass, she’s doing female bodybuilding. She’s been training hard for years, but when she expressed interest in competing at the end of the summer, we thought it would be best for her to train and build for a bit first. So, at the beginning of summer I helped her construct a great training plan, and nutrition plan in an effort to find her maintenance calories and macros, so when we start prepping we can know we’re in a deficit right away and we’ll have progress sooner than later. We were very close on the first try and after a few small adjustments based on her schedule, found maintenance on the dot. She’s been making awesome progress with her physique and also recomping in the process, her weight has been consistent but she’s been slowly losing fat and getting leaner. I think this individualized type of approach I learned from Stu is so essential to success. I’m crazy excited for her, and to be able to be her support system and coach her through her first contest. Although truthfully part of me doesn’t want her to do it, because I don’t want to see her suffer through the brutality of a prep. But ultimately, I know she’s gonna kick ass and I can’t wait to see her transformation.
